How to be a Human Being
“That my destiny is not a given but something that needs to be constructed and for which I must assume responsibility” (Freire, 54). Like the philosopher Hannah Arendt in “Hannah Arendt and the Human Duty to Think,” Paulo Freire believes that challenging social ideologies and unjust structures requires active thinking and demonstrates how “it is difficult because it demands constant vigilance over ourselves so as to avoid being simplistic, facile, and incoherent” (Freire, 51). Actively thinking develops the ability to recognize and evaluate the effects of social structures and forces, given that society is socially constructed and thus changeable. This perspective fosters the posing of critical questions and the pursuit of solutions to these questions. At the heart of active thinking is the recognition that social structures shape a person’s beliefs, values, expectations, and sense of what is right and wrong, which ultimately shape our experiences and how we interact with other people. The nature of this perspective could empower people to make changes in their personal lives and in society because it allows us to realize that what we often perceive as personal issues are actually public issues and are a product of flaws in the social structure. For example, a student at Canal Alliance may have the personal issue of not having the money to support themselves or their family. This ultimately could have resulted from the harsh challenges of immigration and the ongoing issues many communities of color face in our country, making it almost impossible to escape the cycle of poverty. Freire relates this to active thinking by saying, “It’s the position of one who struggles to become the subject and maker of history and not simply a passive, disconnected object” (Freire, 55). The empowering nature of active thinking sheds lights on the fundamentally important idea that society and all that occurs within it is made by people. Society is a social product, and can therefore be changed, as can its structures, institutions, and ways of life. Just as social structures and forces shape our lives, we shape them with our actions and choices. Every day, our behavior either validates and reproduces society as it is, or it challenges it and reshapes it.
Along with active thinking, cultural humility is necessary in order to bear an ethical responsibility to examine and challenge social ideologies. Humility implies a lifelong process of learning, self-relflection, and awareness of one’s unconscious biases. “No matter how much someone may irritate me, I have no right to puff myself up with my own self-importance so as to declare that person to be absolutely incompetent, assuming a posture of disdain from my own position of false superiority” (Freire, 51). Through this idea, Freire explores the idea that everybody has different experiences, therefore resulting in different areas of awareness, knowledge, and paths of learning. It is very common to mistake not knowing for lack of intelligence, and assuming the position of disdain that Freire talks about is no way to progress or educate. The only way to learn is by asking questions and practicing cultural humility as a tool that can be continuously applied and expanded upon as experience is gained.
“I like being human because I perceive that the construction of my presence in the world, which is a construction involving others and is subject to genetic factors that I have inherited and to socio-cultural and historical factors, is nonetheless a presence whose construction has much to do with myself” (Freire, 54). Freire discusses this concept as a way of using one’s own privilege to deepen one’s critical consciousness. Although there is no hierarchy of oppressions, many aspects of my life fall into the dominant category, including English being my first language. I never have to worry about a language barrier in any facilities I enter, and I grew up with easy access to representation of my main language in media, and I know that many cannot share this experience. Working with Canal Alliance has allowed me to develop a cultural sensitivity to a marginalized population. Although the majority of many people exist in overlapping dominant and subordinate categories, it is crucial to acknowledge our privileges and use our power in society to free others from oppression. Quite often, “privileged group members can rely on their privilege and avoid objecting to oppression”(powell, 78), while they blatantly refuse to recognize the existence of inequality. Normalizations and rationalizations have been created to justify these inequal power structures in which only dominant groups benefit. With the tools of active thinking and cultural humility, intervening in the endless cycle of structural privilege is the key to freeing us all. “Though I know that things can get worse, I also know that I am able to intervene to improve them” (Freire, 53). Everybody plays a part in social justice, and everyone is accountable.
